Four endangered turtles joined a Flybe flight from Southampton to Dublin last week as they travelled from ZSL London Zoo to The National Reptile Zoo in Kilkenny.
Accompanied by zoo director James Hennessy, the Roti Island snake neck turtles met cabin crew and passengers prior to departure when they popped their distinctive long necks out of their boxes before take-off for the one hour, twenty minute flight.
During the summer months, the National Reptile Zoo will house the turtles at their Lost World exhibit located inside Funtasia in Drogheda, Co.Louth after which they will permanently relocate to their new home in Co.Kilkenny.
Roti Island snake neck turtles (Chelodina mccordi) are red-listed as critically endangered and live in three populations in an area of 70 km² on the small Indonesian island, 311 miles off the coast of Australia.
Flybe director of customer care, Jonathan Breedon, said: “We are always pleased to help transport such precious cargo and so were happy to assist the National Reptile Zoo in ensuring that these VIP turtles could travel as quickly and safely as possible over to their new home Ireland.”
James Hennessy added: “As we are a conservation zoo, we are thrilled to be welcoming these critically endangered turtles to our Zoo and we would like to thank the team at Flybe for their support in making the transport of these turtles as easy and trouble-free as possible.”